


At the back of the room

by notveryhandy



Series: Farewell, at last [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Farewell Sarah Jane, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23744512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notveryhandy/pseuds/notveryhandy
Summary: Nobody sees the Doctor.They might not want to, anyway.
Relationships: The Doctor/Sarah Jane Smith
Series: Farewell, at last [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1710883
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	At the back of the room

There is a woman at the back, swinging her feet idly as if this is not a funeral. She’s drumming her hands against the bench, and though everyone else is celebrating Sarah Jane, she is sitting there silently.

Nobody walks up to her, except a young woman who seems just as out of place and lost. Brown hair and a blue jumper, not mourning clothes.

Frankly, they’re both out of place. Rani, watching from afar, does not judge.

She does, however, question what they are doing there.

* * *

“So it’s her?” Clara asks. “The one who...”

“Yeah.” Words. They aren’t coming easily right now.

“You never did like endings.” They’re not here to do emotions. They’ve never been those sorts of people.

The Doctor looked up, eyes glazed and barely focusing. “She is - was-”

Clara nods. “I know. I saw you two together.”

This corner of the room is the place for the not-quite-living to meet, those who walk the dangerous line between heroic and reckless. Clara is as tired as she is, from the looks of it.

“Really? Was it...”

The thing about immortals - or semi-immortals - is that emotions are so much harder and understanding is so much easier. “Yeah.”

The Doctor breathes, in, out.

“I miss-”

“I think everyone here does.”

* * *

Sarah Jane Smith knows how the story ends. So does the Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith knows it must end, and is willing. The Doctor is not.

So here they stand, in an attic which will soon be empty and dusty, as awkward and natural as can be.

“Come with me? One last time?”

The Doctor is plaintive, pleading.

“Of course, Doctor,” she breathes, “of course.”

And the light from the stars is dazzling, and she knows she does not have long left.

* * *

“The story ended,” says Clara, and the Doctor inhales sharply.

“I know,” says the Doctor. The words are biting. “I know.”

This is an empty conversation; there is far more meaning in downcast glances than a single word either of them have spoken today.

Clara nods. “Everybody knows that everybody dies.”

“But not today.”

That’s not what she was going to say. They both know it.

Clara turns away.

* * *

“Thank you,” she says. The Doctor smiles back, hands interlacing.

“You’re welcome,” the Doctor says, and then hugs her tightly, like he’s never letting go.

Maybe he’s not.

“This will-”

“Sh,” says the Doctor, and watches starlight fall over her face. “We’re here now.”

They are, they are here.

Maybe that's enough.

* * *

Rani looks at the two women in the back of the room. They do not look shifty, exactly, but they aren't as natural as anyone else in the room.

So she walks towards them. The younger one looks startled.

“Why are you here?” she asks, as quietly as possible.

One of them shrugs, the other bites her lip.

“I wanted to see.” The Doctor screws her eyes tight.

“Who are you? We’re not waiting for anybody, except the Doctor, but he’ll never turn up.”

“Why,” asks Clara, “would it break his hearts?”

“What do you know?”

“An awful lot,” says the Doctor. 

Rani walks away. Who cares why they’re here, anyway?

* * *

It might have been the Doctor. The thought hits her, as she stands there in the attic.

It might, it would explain the combination of a lackadaisical attitude and startling grief.

Of course it was the Doctor, who is she kidding? She’s not going to tell anyone, of course. That would...

Hurt, it would hurt.

She wonders if the Doctor said goodbye elsewhere, with Sarah Jane.

She wonders who the other woman was.

She wonders many things, and then decides it does not matter.

That’s what Sarah Jane would have done.

* * *

And somewhere amongst the stars, a whispered, heavy message is heard.

_Farewell, my Sarah Jane._


End file.
